I Spent A Day Returning To New York After My Alaska Cruise

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Introduction

And just like that I was coming back to New York from my 7 Night Alaska Glacier Cruise. I just had one of the best experiences I could imagine, and besides relaxing and having fun, I was just still in awe with all the beautiful scenery that Alaska has to offer. After departing the Royal Caribbean cruise, I spent the entire day with my mom just hitting the most tourist places in Seattle, and now we needed some rest before the very early flight back to New York City.

We had checked in earlier in the day, but even though they said they would let us in earlier into the room, they only sent the text that the room was ready around 3:00 PM, just in the middle of all the tourist activities. So, we were just able to come back to the hotel around 9:00 PM. We were staying in Hyatt Place Seattle Downtown, just steps from all the attractions by the Space Needle. I was originally planning to leave tonight, just the same day of the disembarkation, but I thought we would be super tired doing an againts the clock, red-eye flight.

We entered the room, and it was bigger than what we expected, and just exactly what we need for a few hours of sleep.

What I liked the most was the view of the Space Needle from my room, and even though I was going to spend 8 hours in this room, I felt it was better than the hotel we had at the beginning of the trip (MarQueen Hotel). No hate to that one, but having an elevator is ideal when you have an older mom and heavy suitcases.

The flight was at 7:25 AM from the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, meaning it would be around a 30 min Uber from the hotel, so we decided to wake up at 4:15 AM, to get ready, and then try to pass security on time (Alaska Airlines had sent us an e-mail saying the lines in SEA were ridiculously long).

Woke up and the Space Needle was still there, but for the first time since 2016 I was seeing it all lit up at night time. We got ready and took an Uber towards Seattle-Tacoma Airport.

The Seattle-Tacoma Airport uses a train system, just like other airports in the US, and we used it to go to the N gates. We got scared for a bit, because unlike with Orlando Airport, I did not remember I had to account for the time of these trains to come and transport us to the proper gates.

But we finally made it to the gate, yay. Since there was a 6 hour flight coming into our lives, we got some food and drinks for the way, even though Alaska Airlines seemed to give some snacks during the flight.

After getting the food while we were waiting for the flight, I was in shocked when I looked out of the window, and the Mount Rainier was just there. And it looked way better than the last few days where it was covered with clouds.

We boarded the plane, and for the first time, I used the OneWorld priority boarding. This is weird since I mostly use American Airlines and not all the time I get this benefit, even though I got the travel cards with them. But I was not going to complain for getting this perk lol.

We took off and I was praying for the flight to turn around so I would be able to see the Mount Rainier from up here, but still the view of the bay was magnificent.

But after just a couple of minutes, the pilot did turn around and I was able to see Mount Rainier in all its splendor. With a height of 14,417 ft (4,394 m), this volcano is the mountain with the biggest prominence in the contiguous United States.

It reminds me so much of the Mount Fuji in Japan, which I had just seen last April, while I was doing my Round The World Trip 2023.

After going into the clouds, and with 6 hours of flight ahead, I passed out. I slept most of the time but still was awake for the cabin service lol. I needed that free soda and snacks. As always I used my sleep mask, and when awake I would distract myself with downloaded YouTube videos and my TwoDots game on my phone.

Finally, I made it to JFK and back home. It had been 10 days of an experience I would never forget, and the culmination of a trip with more than a year in the making since I had bought the cruise 13 months ago.

Would I recommend anyone doing an Alaska cruise? Probably. If you can afford it, and spend all that time in the water, then go ahead. I would have to come back and do a land trip and maybe explore other places in the 49th state, but for now, I will retain these memories forever.

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